The other day I was reading Psalm 40 in my morning devotional time. As I was reading the words of a song we used to sing, with the students at chapel in my days as a Christian school principal, came to mind. The locally written original song, Out of the Clay*, was an exact quote from Psalm 40; I remember the power of the word proclaimed for those young people.
Especially in our troubled times as COVID affects our nation again, spending time with God and talking with Him is of vital importance. As we take time to pray, we can ask God to remind us of scriptures that will speak to us and bring encouragement for today. By meditating and proclaiming those scriptures we can experience the power of the word of God in our lives.
The proclamation of scripture seems to have fallen by the wayside in many churches today. I feel this is a shame, in fact I have recently downloaded a number of “Scripture in Song” titles from Spotify on my phone. I am enjoying this immensely as part of my devotions although some of it may be a bit of nostalgia for another time when I was starting out as a Christian.
I believe in speaking the “Word of God” and prophesying it into the heavenlies is a vital part of spiritual warfare. We may feel a little silly if we are on our own, but I can assure you there are ears listening, including our own. Speaking the word literally over ourselves feeds our spirit with the word of truth, and makes us slow down and stop skim reading.
Working with “Set Free” and the Conquer programme for the last four years dealing with pornography addicts and sex addicts has made me relook at a lot of aspects of discipleship and spiritual formation. Basically one of the key aspects of the programme is reforming our addicts spiritually. In this process it is not so much what they are doing that matters, but why they are doing it. This provides the individual with knowledge of their trigger points and areas where they need to relook at their spiritual formation and understanding. This allows them to build long-term strategies to keep themselves safe and growing. [For information about “Set Free” click here]
Discipleship and spiritual formation is not always majored on by the modern church, so I have found it to be an interesting process working through this with the men involved in Set Free. Part of the way spiritual formation is developed in the programme is through the process of proclamation of both Scripture and prophecy on a daily basis.
In my own walk I am able to daily proclaim the word of God that God has quickened to me or other people have given me over time. I find this process useful especially in my personal spiritual life but also in my spiritual leadership with the team at PK. I remember being at Lifeway Bible College when I was a young Christian and one of the lecturers said this simple but profound statement, “you have to know what you know in you knower”. So I am proclaiming over myself and PK, the things that I know to be true, things that resonate so deeply in me that I just know. The things that I know from God are as Psalm 40 verse 2 says, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
So what do you just know? Are you courageous enough to proclaim those things over your life and believe for God to respond?
Blessings
Paul Monahan
* Out of the Clay lyrics based on Psalm 40:1-3
I waited (I waited)
For the Lord to hear (For the Lord to hear)
He turned to me (He turned to me)
And heard my cry (And heard my cry).
He pulled me out of the clay
And set my feet, my feet on solid rock
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to the Lord
He put a new song in my mouth
A song of praise, to the Lord.
Many will see, many will hear, what the Lord has done (x4).